Dear DGN Band Students and Families:
Welcome to the DGN Bands! We’re very excited to have your family as a part of our program. Over the years our band has developed an outstanding reputation for superior performance and tremendous musicality. Established in 1929, this is the 92nd year that our band will perform for the community. We again have a wonderful group of students registered for the program and we are confident that we will all work to uphold – and enhance – the fine reputation of our DGN Bands.
We have an exciting year planned for the members of the Downers Grove North High School Bands. We acknowledge, entering the school year, that the COVID-19 Pandemic will necessitate ongoing adjustments to traditional DGN Band procedures and schedules. All plans are being developed with student and staff safety at the forefront, and in compliance with state guidance/county Health Department mandates. Our collective experiences in 2020-21 will, undoubtedly, be different than what we would typically experience in a non-pandemic environment. But, even with needed adjustments, we are confident that the “band family” will provide students with an opportunity to express themselves artistically, collaborate with others, and feel connected to our school community!
District 99 is currently developing plans for 2020-21 instruction. As we await additional information and direction, our Band Staff is developing a series of options so that we are prepared to move forward appropriately. We anticipate the “Phase 4” status of Illinois will require modifications and adjustments to several of the traditional DGN Band program components that begin in just a few weeks. That will include our Leadership Team training for Drum Majors & Section Captains, our “Band Camp” week for all members of the Trojan Marching Band, and our Parent/Guardian Meeting scheduled for August 5th. We hope to share more specific plans the week of July 20, but until then we ask you to please continue holding our previously published practices in your family calendar.
Members of the Color Guard and Percussion section will receive ongoing updates, via email, from their instructional staff about July practices. We have developed a tentative schedule to hold some of the July practices on campus, but that plan is still under review by our Administration as we monitor guidance from both the Health Department and the IHSA. We will share updates with families as information is available.
We shared with our Student Leadership Team, earlier this week, that we are not able to move forward with the previously announced “Les Miserables” themed field show this year; we plan to hold this concept for Fall 2021. While we are unable to provide new music at this time, we can share that students should not continue independent work this summer on music from Les Miserables. Students should continue to learn and refine the DGN School Song!
Timely communication is always important, but never more than present day. We hope you will find our electronic communication resources a convenient way to stay-in-touch with future schedules and announcements. Please continue to check our website (dgnbands.blogspot.com), and make sure band members and parents/guardians are subscribed to our Text Alert system. (Subscription details follow.)
Eyes with Pride,
Jessen T. Smith & Brayer Teague
Text Alerts
We have a text system in place – via the Remind101 platform – and ask all band families that utilize text messaging to subscribe.
There are three different ways to sign up:
1. Sign up for text notifications by texting @dgnbands to 81010.
2. Go to www.remind.com/join/@dgnbands
and follow the directions.
3. Download the Remind app from the App Store or Google Play, sign up for an account with your email address, and enter @dgnbands when prompted.
